Close to Home: Genealogy Research Sources, Northern Utah and Southern Idaho

The amazing genealogy access we have close to home will astound you. It’s that easy to research close to home!

It may require using libraries and archives you are unfamiliar with—and the record attendants at these repositories may not always be as helpful to your genealogy searches as you are accustomed to. Do not be offended nor go away unsatisfied. I have personally visited each of these collections and used many of the items listed. And this is just a small part of the genealogy record wealth in our area, check out the ones in your own area.

You will want to pay a personal visit to as many of these facilities as you can. Within easy driving distance, they will save you frustration and expense!

Visit their websites and use the online resources they provide for you. Easily retrieved and quickly searched, these new databases often contain just what you need.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Family History Centers, branches of the Family History Library. Each library microfilm collection is different because the ancestry of each user is different. As you visit, examine the collection for items that apply to your research.

Burley ID—224 E. 14th St., Burley ID 83318. 208-878-7286. Large book collection (was downstairs) with family histories from all over the U.S. Some special finding aids and indexes for family migration patterns.

Blackfoot ID—815 Mitchell Lane, Blackfoot ID 83221.

Malad ID--220 Bannock Street, Malad ID 83252. 208-766-2332. Idaho Enterprise 1909-1988, indexed, obituaries, deaths, and Golden Weddings extracted. Loren Daniels Court House Project, family group sheets. Family histories and histories of many church units. Malad Valley Cemetery transcripts, indexed. Oneida County Courthouse records on microfilm. Extensive Welsh collection on microfilm: Brecknock, Caermarthen, Glamorgan, Pembroke counties. Idaho Censuses.

Idaho Falls ID—Idaho Falls Regional Family History Center, 750 W. Elva, Idaho Falls ID 83402. 208-524-5291. Large U.S. book collection, extensive collection of microfilm for England and Wales. Special reference books not available in any other library. Well worth visiting.

Pocatelllo ID—Pocatello Regional Family History Center, 156 1/2 South 6th Ave, Pocatello ID 83205. 208-232-9262. website: www.prfhc.org. Includes newsletter issues with posting of new research books. Extensive New England collection in books and microfilms.

Preston ID—55 N. 1st East, Preston ID 83263. 208-852-0710. Obituary file, Webb Funeral Home Records, extensive collection of microfilm for England, Scotland, and Wales.

Twin Falls ID—399-421 Maurice Street North, Twin Falls ID 83301. 208-733-8073. Collections include local cemetery database of considerable size. German and Irish microfilm collections.

Brigham City UT—Brigham City Regional Family History Center, 10 South 400 East, Brigham City UT 84302. 435-723-5995. Extensive microfilm collection for Denmark, Norway, and Sweden parish churchbooks; complete set of TIB cards and 3-and 4-generation family group sheets (on microfilm); Utah census records 1850-1920; Obituary index Box Elder County papers, DUP Scrapbooks with Index; Emigration lists and indexes.

Logan UT—Cache Valley Regional Family History Center, 50 North Main Street, Logan UT 84323-3397. 435-755-5594. Located in the historic Logan Tabernacle, this is one of the oldest FHC’s in the system. They have on their shelves many genealogy volumes no longer in print and not available in any other place. Well worth a personal visit. 1850 census for whole US, Utah censuses 1850-1920. More than 250 genealogy CD’s, Geographic Name Information System, New England Historic and Genealogical Society Register (searchable) with indexes, American Genealogical and Biographical Index (206 volumes). Temple records of Nauvoo, St. George, Logan , Manti, Salt Lake, and Endowment House. Substantial Native American collection. Danish Trap Series: abstracts of title for local land ownership with person register by surname. New England Vital Records. 120-drawer surname index to book collection (on-going project).

Ogden UT—Ogden Regional Family History Center, 539 East 24th Street, Ogden UT 84401. 801-626-1132. Website: www.orfhc.org. Large book collection, nearly 60,000 reels of microfilm, Brother Everett’s 507 CD’s, more than 100 FamilySearch computers, original paper copies of the Piedmont Project (northern Italy) family group sheets (75 vols.), Boyd’s Marriage Indexes, Ogden Cemetery Records, Utah census records. Excellent online newsletter www.orfhc.org/desktop.

Tremonton-Garland UT—487 East 900 North, Tremonton UT 84337. 435-257-7015. More than 50,000 microfiche, and 10,000 reels of microfilm. Utah census records 1850-1920, Passenger and Immigration Lists Indexes, English Origins of New England Families, Genealogies of Pennsylvania Families, including the Henry Baldwin collection, Lineage Books of the DAR, Zurich Switzerland censuses 1634-1708, 1871 Dominion of Canada Directory, Medieval Surname Index. Special collections for Native American ancestors, Eastern KY, Massachusetts Vital Records, Royal ancestors, Melungeons, Irish and Swiss ancestry. Ruth Zollinger’s Bear River Valley Scrapbooks, original volumes.

Native American Resources

Brigham Tribal Office, Northwest Band, Shoshone
707 N. Main Street
Brigham City, UT 84302
Phone: 800-310-8241
Local: 435.734.2286 | Fax: 435.734.0424

Pocatello Tribal Office, Northwest Band, Shoshone
427 N. Main, St. Ste. 101
Pocatello, ID 83204
Phone: 888-716-5712
Local: 208.478.5712 | Fax: 208.478.5713

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes
306 Pima Drive (I-15, exit 80)
Fort Hall ID 83203
208-238-3700
includes Lemhi-Shoshone

Great Basin Indian Archives
Great Basin College
1500 College Parkway
Elko NV 89801

University Library Collections

BYU-Idaho—David O. McKay Library, 525 South Center Street, Rexburg ID 83460. 208-496-2386. Website: http://abish.byui.edu/specialcollections/ Western States Marriage Record Index, almost 500,000 marriages including early 1700’s New Mexico (ongoing project). Pre-1887 Sources for Utah Counties, includes probate records, early LDS membership records, justice of the peace dockets. Idaho death records, 1887-1924; Eastern Idaho Death Records, includes cemetery information, funeral home records, sexton, and grave records. DUP camp minutes, photos, printed volumes and indexes. Japanese immigrants to the United States, 1887-1924. Mormons and their Neighbors—over 100,000 biographical sketches appearing in 185 published works. Upper Snake River Valley Histories, Oral histories, CES digital collections.

Idaho State University—Eli M. Oboler Library, 850 South 9th Avenue, Pocatello ID 83209. 208-282-3249. Website: www.isu.edu/library
Government Documents collection and finding aids, Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Archives, Intermountain West Collection includes Basques, Mormons, mining, Oregon Trail, local histories and biographical materials, Lemhi Indian Agency Records, 1887-1907), pioneer stores ledgers and account books, Fort Hall Indian Agency miscellaneous records. See list of manuscripts online.

Utah State University—Milton R. Merrill Library, 3000 Old Main Hill, Logan UT 84322. 435-797-2663. Website: http://library.usu.edu/specol/ Government Documents collections and finding aids, Index of Biographies and special collections and archives materials (online), Leonard J. Arrington Historical Archives of U.S. and Utah history (inventory of collection series online), Tomas G. Masaryk Collection of Czech and Slovak History. Outlaw History Center Collection including histories and biographies of outlaws, lawmen. Fife Folklore Archives including records of the American Folklore Society, the Yoder Pennsylvania German culture and folklore collection, the Barre Toellsen collection of Native American culture, Grouse Creek UT cultural survey collection with oral histories, interviews, maps, and slides. Joel E. Ricks history of Cache Valley collection with more than 400,000 photographs, S. George Ellsworth collection including early Mormon diaries and journals, 100 years of photographs from the Compton Studio, Brigham City UT. Microform collections include the Papers of the York High Commission, 1540-1641; Talbot Papers, Earls of Shrewsbury, from Lambeth Palace Library, London; Tanner Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1570-1700 (85 reels of microfilm); Early American Newspapers, 1704-1820 [Indexed online by Newsbank].

Weber State University—Stewart Library, 2901 University Circle, Ogden UT 84408-2901. 801-626-6416. Website: http://library.weber.edu/ Abbey of our Lady of the Holy Trinity collection, Mormon Americana, Oxford Old English Dictionary (online edition), Ogden City Directories, 1887 on, Archives of the Episcopal Church in Utah, German and Italian Prisoners of War 1943-46. Alphabetical list of manuscripts online. Interested in collecting family and local histories, LDS missionary journals, diaries of immigrants, family papers—especially Northern Utah families.

Special Library Collections of Interest to Genealogists

Cache Valley DUP Museum, 160 North Main Street, Logan UT 84321. 435-752-5319. DUP Camp Scrapbooks, indexed by name and subject, printed DUP volumes, obituaries, over 300 original pioneer portraits and photographs.

Golden Spike National Historic Site, P.O. Box 897, Brigham City UT 84302-0897. 435-471-2209. Website: www.nps.gov/gosp Research archives and book collection: 754 volumes; diaries, telegrams, local articles and writings, oral interviews. Maps, 1902 on. Photograph collection, many with negatives. Printed list available at the site.

Everton Collection, 290 N. 100 W., Logan UT 84321. 800-443-8325. Through a special agreement with World Vital Records, an online subscription website, the Everton collection will be digitized and available online. The library includes: Michel Call’s Mormon Pioneer Genealogy Library, 50,000 family group sheets and pedigree charts, Colonial American Genealogy Library, American lineages, and Foreign lineages. Ronald Vern Jackson’s LDS Presidents of the Church, Ancestry of the LDS Presidents, Ancestry of the Presidents of the United States. David Rodney Cole’s gigantic Wagner Ancestry. Phyllis Preece Library collection, 50 looseleaf binders. Books self-published by genealogists, some of them one-of-a-kind, with photographs and maps pasted in. The library, now owned by Logan City, was begun in 1945 from books and research materials donated by genealogists for review and because they wanted their stuff on deposit in a genealogy library--somewhere between 60,000 and 85,000 items including newsletters, maps, genealogical society quarterlies, microfiche, and microfilm.
Some special strengths: Ireland, Virginia, family histories, Subscribe to the online newsletter: genealogy@logancity.org.

And of course our own Genealogy Library Center, Inc., Tremonton UT. A listing of our collections is available here.